conceive
//kənˈsiːv//
Forms
- present (v1)
- conceive
- past (v2)
- conceived
- past participle (v3)
- conceived
- present participle
- conceiving
- 3rd person singular
- conceives
Definitions
1.To have a child; to become pregnant (with).
- Assisted procreation can help those trying to conceive.
2.To develop; to form in the mind; to imagine.
- There are, moreover, grounds for thinking that the Rosaline of Love’s Labour’s Lost was originally conceived of by Shakespeare as pale with black eyes, ..
- It was among the ruins of the Capitol that I first conceived the idea of a work which has amused and exercised near twenty years of my life.
- At the mouth of the cave we found a single litter with six bearers, all of them mutes, waiting, and with them I was relieved to see our old friend Billali, for whom I had conceived a sort of affection.
3.To imagine (as); to have a conception of; to form a representation of.
- Can you conceive of him as a leader?
- We shall, / As I conceive the journey, be at the Mount / Before you, Lepidus.
4.To understand (someone).
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4574
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English conceyven
From Old French concevoir, conceveir
From Latin concipiō, concipere (“to devise, to conceive”).